SeaWorld has been repeatedly accused of mistreating orcas, particularly in the emotive documentary ‘Blackfish’, which may explain the reported decline in visitors to the parks. The backlash against the park was recently given celebrity backing when Jackass star, Steve-O was arrested for protesting with a giant inflatable whale balloon. OnePoll carried out a survey of 1000 UK adults to gauge public opinion, and the results are profound.

Although many people have visited parks with captive orcas (43% of those polled), just 6% of respondents agree with orcas being kept in captivity. Could this be because the public are becoming increasingly aware of the ethical issues surrounding orca captivity?

Furthermore, 77% of people also said that other dolphin species shouldn’t be kept in captivity. This could explain the reasons for SeaWorld’s recent losses; as the public feel increasingly unconvinced of their ability to provide adequate welfare.

Issues with keeping orcas captive:

Benefits of keeping orcas captive:

We don’t give them enough room to swim (77%)

They aren’t able to exhibit normal behaviours (60%)

We don’t understand their social needs well enough (59%)

Dolphins/orcas are highly intelligent so we don’t know how to care for them (49%)

Dolphins/orcas are self-aware (35%)

Only 4.5% of people said that there are no issues with keeping orcas in captivity.

The top 5 perceived benefits of keeping orcas/dolphins in captivity, according to our research are:

Research purposes (37%)

Education (34%)

Getting to swim with dolphins (17%)

To be able to see a dolphin/orca (15%)

The shows (10.6%)

4 in 10 people stated that they don’t see any benefit to keeping these intelligent creatures captive.

There are claims that the benefits are not benefits at all, and that the research carried out nowadays in these parks is not generally useful to wild dolphin/ orca conservation, as these animals exhibit entirely different behaviours when in captivity, including stereotypies (unusual behaviours).

When asked whether they think the research carried out is useful, only 35% of UK adults said yes.

We also asked our panel to estimate how many times an orca would need to swim around its SeaWorld enclosure to equal the amount they’d swim in the wild. The average estimate was 661 times. In reality this figure should be closer to 1400, as dolphins/orcas can swim over 100 miles a day (perceived average by the public: 64.2 miles).

When asked about the future of the parks, just 20% of people said SeaWorld should remain open.

So what would happen if SeaWorld closed? Although many of the captive orcas would be unable to survive in the world due to psychosis and loss of natural behaviours (e.g. hunting ability), there have been success stories of releases. Other orcas could be released into open ocean pools where they can live out their lives with room to swim freely.

While the reputation and future of SeaWorld remains to be seen, one thing is for sure – they’re certainly fishing in troubled waters.

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Their friendly and responsive service is competitively priced, yet they go out their way to address our business needs…they’ve turned around results for us quickly, but not without providing care and due diligence to ensure our surveys are effective as possible. I highly recommend OnePoll.

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OnePoll were a perfect partner for us; exceptional customer service, always replying quickly and thoughtfully. They delivered everything we asked for on-time, and never wavered in their commitment to get us what we needed to determine the best path forward. I can envision a long and perfectly-formed relationship.

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OnePoll were great to work with. Their clear understanding of our commercial needs allowed for a flexible and efficient research project. This approach is invaluable to our small, fast-growing business. We’ll certainly come back to the team for future projects.

Paul DazeleyHead of Marketing at Kabuto Noodles

OnePoll are great to work with. They provide excellent project turnaround times from start to finish, making things much easier when dealing with our research requirements. Their research really adds to our content and helps enhance a topic for our viewers.

Vivek SharmaGood Morning Britain (ITV)

The bowel cancer research we conducted with you received so much regional broadcast coverage – including a full day of reports and phone-ins with people recognising some symptoms and promising to get checked out. The volume of traffic to the symptoms page on the website shows that it can’t fail to have saved some lives as a result. An awesome result, thank you.

Anna MurrayPR Director at Formedia

OnePoll were quick, responsive and efficient at recruiting for our online psychology research study. The sample they recruited was as we requested, and we shall certainly be using them again.

Dr Suzanna ForwoodResearch Associate, Institute of Public Health

We needed to do a very short timescale project which required rotations of stimulus material and quite complex routing. OnePoll were helpful, responsive and cost-effective – and when timescales started to slip due to late availability of the stimulus material, their flexibility and teamwork meant the data was still delivered when we needed it.

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I have been amazed by OnePoll’s ability to get high level interviews, especially those in niche audiences at C-Level. They are very responsive and attentive to all of my project needs.

Christopher LawrenceDirector of Research, Finn Partners

OnePoll were a perfect partner for us; exceptional customer service, always replying quickly and thoughtfully. They delivered everything we asked for on-time, and never wavered in their commitment to get us what we needed to determine the best path forward. I can envision a long and perfectly-formed relationship.

Nigel RothPartner, Davies+McKerr

The bowel cancer research we conducted with you received so much regional broadcast coverage – including a full day of reports and phone-ins with people recognising some symptoms and promising to get checked out. The volume of traffic to the symptoms page on the website shows that it can’t fail to have saved some lives as a result. An awesome result, thank you.

Anna MurrayPR Director at Formedia

Thank you for all your hard work. The client has been extremely pleased with the presentation and analysis that the survey results fed into. I would have no hesitation in recommending you and the team to others.

Alfie SimPartner, Agent Within

OnePoll are great to work with. They provide excellent project turnaround times from start to finish, making things much easier when dealing with our research requirements. Their research really adds to our content and helps enhance a topic for our viewers.

Vivek SharmaGood Morning Britain (ITV)

The service levels we receive from OnePoll are first class. They totally understand the pressures arising from our fast-paced business and can be relied upon to add value to our own thinking.

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